Reasons Why I No Longer Like '13 Reasons Why'

(Content warning: Discussions on suicide, self-harm, and sexual assault)

13 Reasons Why is a Netflix Original series based on the successful novel by Jay Asher. The story follows the aftermath of a young girl's suicide and the aftereffects on the school, community, and the people left behind. After her death, Hannah Baker leaves behind tapes with thirteen reasons why she killed herself and instructions stating that the tapes must be heard by the people that are on them.

The show had many goals—mainly to get people talking about important issues such as rape, sexual assault, bullying, teen suicide, drug abuse, etc. This goal, however, didn't go according to plan due to the controversial impact the show had on its viewers.

I'm not gonna lie, personally, I loved the show during its first season, and I always defended it. I fell in love with the mystery appeal to it, but after reviewing the first season and watching the second one, I finally realized what everyone was talking about. So here are some reasons why I now dislike 13 Reasons Why.

(Warning: Spoilers on 13 Reasons Why Season 1 & 2)

1. It romanticizes suicide and self-harming.

I never wanted to admit this when I first watched the show, but yes, they do. The whole "I'm in love with a dead girl" identifier for Clay just came off differently than it should have. It is something added to the list of "couples we ship," begging to make them a stereotypical couple along with the manic pixie dream girl and our lonely city boy. It's just confusing young minds. Instead of being a heartbreaking story of a young man who is in love with a girl who then killed herself, it's literally the idea of how her suicide is some type of poetic art. Suicide is not a "beautiful happenstance."

And don't get me started with Skye's self-harming. When Clay finds out that Skye self-harms, she says, "It's what you do instead of killing yourself." The worst part is that they never really talk about it again as serious matter and how you shouldn't do it. After watching the show, a twitter user posted, "13 Reasons Why made me think about cutting after going 5 months without it crossing my mind." This is the dangerous effect it has on people.

2. Clay's Mom and Her Parenting

Clay's mom has to be one of the biggest assholes of the show. Well, in the first season, at least. She defends the school in the Baker's lawsuit when it was clear that it could possibly hurt Clay. Then she offers a $200,000 settlement for the death of a child. GET IT TOGETHER, LAINIE. Mom of the year, y'all. Also, I understand parenting isn't the best in a cliché teen drama, but come on, it's a little out of hand for this show considering how "serious" they want to be.

3. Graphic Rape Scenes

I get what the show is trying to accomplish, and I suppose that's why I always defended this idea. Showing the graphic reality of sexual assault can accomplish that trigger factor in viewers and get them to understand how serious this issue really is. While that may be true though, you can still accomplish this without showing too much. One main fact that 13RW makers left out: Survivors. Watch. The. Show. Too. Imagine how traumatizing it would be for a scene to be so graphic it made you relive your own sexual assault in your head. Producers defend this action by saying that this spread awareness when, in reality, several studies have shown that it actually does the opposite and causes a negative impact for victims.

4. Tyler's Unnecessary Rape Scene

Tyler's rape scene has to be one of the most unexpected, most traumatizing things I have seen so far on a TV series. The scene itself was too extreme and unnecessary. Yes, they did put content warnings before the episode, but I don't believe it was enough. Many viewers were left nauseous, traumatized, and extremely uncomfortable after watching the scene. Tyler's rape was unnecessary. If they wanted sympathy for his character and/or a purpose for his actions at the end of the episode, having the jocks beat him up could've been enough.

5. Hannah's Suicide Scene

Hannah Baker's suicide scene is a graphic, gut-wrenching tutorial on how to kill yourself. It might as well be a wikiHow article. Anyway, here's where the writers also go for the trigger factor. They believe that by showing exactly how suicide would happen, then it should have more of an effect on people and show them the reality of suicide. Again, this can also be accomplished the same if they could've cut some details out of the shots. Also repeating my first statement, it does the opposite of spreading good awareness and instead makes a negative effect for the viewers.

6. Discussion on Serious Issues

Throughout the entire show, I never got a chance to see a good, well-thought discussion on the serious issues the show is supposed to talk about. We see rape, bullying, substance abuse, suicide, depression, and self harm happening, BUT THERE IS NO DISCUSSION ON WHY THEY ARE WRONG. The show is just offering exposure, letting the viewers create their own thoughts, good AND bad. They're letting the audience figure it out on their own when they shouldn't when it comes to sensitive issues like these.

7. The Depiction of Hannah's Character

This has got to be one of the most annoying aspects of the show. I realize that our protagonist isn't supposed to be perfect. No one is, for that matter. Don't get me wrong, what happened to Hannah was terrible and no one deserves to go through that, but the way Hannah's character was written to be in the show as a sensitive, grudge-full, whiny girl is idiotic. If they really wanted the viewers to relate to her character and feel heartbroken for her death, could they please just make her more likable and not come off as a whiny brat for most of the show? For example, whenever Clay would say something rude or wrong, instead of correcting him or explain why his comment was offensive, she'd just walk away angry, leaving him wondering what went wrong. It's little things that made Hannah's character unlikable at times, which shouldn't really happen so much since we're trying to sympathize with her.

Overall, this show was very controversial, and don't get me wrong, this show did have some positives. The show as a whole is entertaining. The acting was enjoyable and the actors did a good job with bringing the characters to life. The content of this show is very intense and the actors should be given more credit for their courage. If it was very difficult to watch some scenes, I could only imagine how difficult it was to be a part of it.

I wouldn't recommend this show for someone who may be going through difficult issues such as sexual assault, bullying, drug abuse, or suicidal thoughts. For those who are interested in watching the show, keep an open mind and be cautious.

If you or someone you may know needs help:

Call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Text HELLO to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line.

Visit National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.